Women&#39;s slip



G. J. RITTER WOMEN'S SLIP Sept. 5, 1967 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 7, 1965 GERALD J R IT TER %u/ WZFKZM TTORNE Sept. 5, 1967 v R. TER v 3,339,553

WOMEN'S SLIP Filed July 7, 1965 3 SheetsShe t 2 INVENTOR GERALD J.R ITTER A BY TroRNEY 6: J. RITTER WOMEN'S SLIP Sept. 5, 1967 Filed July 7, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG.8

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ATTORN S United States Patent M 3,339,553 WOMENS SLIP Gerald J. Ritter, New York, N.Y., assignor to The Barbizon Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 7, 1965, Ser. No. 470,038 12 Claims. (Cl. 128-454) This invention relates to improvements in womens garments and more particularly to slips or undergarments or nightgowns.

An object and feature of the invention is the provision of a garment that is light in weight, porous and more comfortable for the wearer.

Other objects and features of the invention are the provision of a garment that provides full freedom of movement for the wearer, provides closer contour fit by its back bodice section which is connected to the bias cut front panel of the garment and which utilizes an expansibe material in its back bodice section, preferably of spandex material, which by its very nature molds itself to the form of the wearer and adapts itself more readily to contours in the areas of the garment where it is located.

Other objects and features of the invention are the provision of a garment of the character described which is composed of a minimum number of separate pieces and wherein the sewing or other joining operations of said pieces to produce said garment are reduced to a minimum.

Further, objects of the invention are the provision of a novel garment composed of a minimal number of pieces or panels'and seams and wherein one of the pieces or panels of expansible fabric whose major axis of stretch in the assembled garment is disposed to be or extend substantially parallel with the lines of latitude of the wearers body and thus provide snug fit conforming thereto as well as uplifting support for the wearers breasts.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a garment comprised of a minimal number of pieces which will not twist or become displaced by movements of the wearer during use.

Further objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following specification and the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof and where-' FIG. 1 is a front elevation on a wearer of a garment embodying the invention as worn;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation thereof;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view thereof;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the front piece of the garment;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of said front piece viewed in the direction of the arrow F illustrating a step in the manner of providing tucks or pleats to form one bust portion thereof;

FIG. 6 is a similar fragmentary view illustrating the completed tucks or pleats;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the rear skirt portion of the garment as cut from the fabric material of which it is made; and

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the bodice portion of the garment as cut from the expansible material of which it is made.

Referring now to the drawings, the garment comprises Patented Sept. 5, 1967 a front panel 10 cut from the sheet S of FIG. 4 so that its warp and woof threads are at substantially a 45 degree bias with the selvage of said sheet S. This front panel 10 has a skirt portion 11 flaring at its sides 12, 13 in usual manner toward the bottom edge 14. In its midrilf section M, the panel 10 has oppositely located cut-outs 15, 16 having the concavely curved edges 17, 18 that extend outwardly and downwardly from the aligned facing apices 19, 20. The curved convex edges 21, 22 opposite the concavely curved edges 17, 18 extend upwardly away from said apices 19, 20 toward outer apices 23, 24. The straight edges 25, 26 extend from outer apices 23, 24 inwardly and upwardly to the upper apices 27, 28. The concavely curved edges 29, 30 extend downwardly and inwardly from upper apices 27, 28 to meet at the common neck apex 31. In order to form breast cups U, V, in the upper portion B of the front panel 10, the portions of panel 10 which are bordered by the curved edges 21, 22 each are folded to form pairs of triangular tucks 31, 32 and 33, 34 that are appropriately sewed as will be described for maintenance.

The rear panel 35 which also is cut from a sheet S similar to sheet S on a 45 degree bias and has flaring side edges 36, 37 terminating in the bottom edge 38 and the upper concavely curved edges 39, 40 extending from the opposite side edges 36, 37 to a centrally located apex 41 which in the assembled garment lies approximately opposite the midriff portion M of the front panel 10.

A bodice panel 43 which is intended to be united with the front panel 10 and rear panel 35 to form the garment is provided. This bodice material is cut from a sheet Sp of expansible material so that its width axis A is parallel with the major expansion axis C of said expansible material. Preferably, said expansible sheet Sp is a commercial textile fabric product known generically in the trade as spandex fabric composed of manufactured fiber in which the fiber-forming substance is a long-chain synthetic polymer comprised of at least 85% of a segmented polyurethane as defined by the Federal Trade Commission. This fiber has high breaking elongation, excellent breaking strength, excellent holding power, good tensile recovery, excellent durability, excellent flex resistance, very good uniformity, good resistance to abrasion and good resistance to chemicals and cosmetic agents. A commercial spandex fiber used in the manufacture of the spandex material of sheet Sp is Lycra, a commercial product of Dupont. A particular spandex fabric that has been found useful in practicing this invention iscomprised of 140 denier Dupont Lycra fibers which is double-wrapped with 30 denier nylon fibers. The additional yarn content included in this fabric other than the said Lycra is Banlon-- nylon and the approximate percentages overall are 12% Lycra and 88% nylon. The stretch of this fabric 44 is approximately to in the directions of arrow C of FIG. 9, i.e., from selvage to selvage. This spandex fabric may be either'plain as shown or in the form of decorative lace (not shown). Of course, other expansible plain or lace fabrics having similar properties may be substituted for said spandex material.

The said bodice panel 43 cut from the sheet Sp has a back portion 44 whose lower edges 45, 46 are convex and generally complementary in shape to the upper concave curved edges 39, 40 of the rear panel 35. The oppositely extending flaps 47, 48 have lower convexly curved deges 49, 50 and whose convex curvatures are generally substantially complementary to the concave curvatures of edges 17, 18 of the front panel 10. The respective flaps 47, 48 have upper concavely curved edges 51, 52 respectively extending to outer apices 53, 54 and Whose curvatures are designed to mate with the curved edges formed by the curved edges 21, 22 of front panel when tucks have been made in the latter edges to form the breast cups U, V. The upper edge 55 of said bodice panel 43 spans the distance between the respective apices 53, 54 or, if desired, may conform substantially in shape and length to upper edges 25, 29, 26 and 30 of the front panel 10.

Shoulder straps 56 and 57 are provided and are adapted to have their ends secured respectively to the apices 27, 28 of front panel 10 and to the upper edge 55 of the bodice panel 43 in the assembled garment.

In assembling the garment from the three panels 10, 35 and 44, the side edges 12, 13 of the front panel 10 are sewed or otherwise joined to the respective matching side edges 36, 37 of the rear skirt panel 35 forming the respec tive side skirt seams D and E of the garment. Then, the lower edges 45, 46 of the bodice panel 43 are sewed or otherwise joined to the upper edges 39, 40 of the rear skirt panel 35 to form the rear seams F, G. The respective flaps 47, 48 are bent around the sides toward the midriff portion M of the front panel 10 and their lower curved edges 49, 50 respectively sewed or otherwise joined to the respective concavely curved edges 17, 18 of the front panel 10 forming the respective seams H and I. Then the respective pairs of triangular tucks or pleats 31, 32 and 33, 34 with seams 31, 32' and 33, 34 are made in the curved edges 21 and 22 of the front panel 10 to form the respective bust cups U and V and the said curved edges are then sewed or otherwise joined to the respective upper concave edges 51, 52 of the respective fiaps 47, 48 of the bodice panel 43 providing the respective seams J and K. The shoulder straps 56 and 57 then have their respective ends sewed or otherwise secured to the respective apices 27, 28 of front panel 10 and to the upper edge 55 of the bodice panel 43, thus completing the garment.

Since the front panel 10 and rear skirt panel 35 were cut originally at a bias from sheets S and 8' they have the bias in the finished garment illustrated by the respective bias lines R and T extending at right angles to each other as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Moreover, since the bodice panel 43 was cut from the sheet Sp of spandex material with its major width axis substantially parallel to the stretch axis C ,of said sheet, the said bodice panel 43 in the finished garment has the front and rear stretch axes A as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 9 which extend substantially at angles of 45 with the bias lines R and T of the front and rear panels, and which extends substantially parallel with lines of latitude of the Wearers body.

Preferably, the seams J and K are located to lie at approximately the bases of the wearers breast lines and these act as. uplifting supports for the wearers breasts, while the remaining portions of the flaps 47, 48 extend around the side midriff portions of the wearer and by reason of their expansibility in direction of stretch axes A fit snugly to the wearers sides while the similar stretch axes A at the rear portion of bodice panel 43 fits snugly to the wearers back above the waist.

The three-piece garment formed from the three panels 10, 35 and 43 as described accomplishes all the objects defined at the outset of this specification. Furthermore, fewer seams and consequently less sewing or other joining is required to assemble the garment from the panels.

Moreover, since the seams in the construction described are stronger than the fabric of the panels, they are purposely so located and made continuous as described so that the garment will not become displaced nor have any tendency to twist during movements of the wearer. This is so because the lines of force and the stresses and strains to which the fabrics may be subject are channelled into the seams and accordingly dissipate along their continuous and interposing lines; resulting thereby in effecting a resistance to displacement of the dissipation of these lines of force and stresses and strains in the seams rather than through the body of the garment. Moreover, the disposition of the stretch axes A of the bodice panel 43 substantially parallel with lines of latitude of the wearers body insure snug fit and accommodations to the wearers body as well as providing uplifting support for the wearers breasts.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, variations within the scope of the appended claims are possible and are contemplated. There is no intention of limitation to the exact details shown and described herein.

What is claimed is:

1. A womens garment of three fabric panels combined together to form the garment comprising a front panel having a skirt portion, a midriff portion and an upper bust portion, the midrifi portion having cut-out portions with curved lower edges extending inwardly from opposite side edges, and the upper bust portion having tucks whose edges are joined to define upper curved edges for said cutout portions and breast cups in said upper bust portion, a rear panel of fabric corresponding substantially in shape to the skirt portion of said front panel and joined along its side edges to corresponding side edges of the skirt portion and having upper curved edges, and a unitary bodice panel of expansible fabric having a rear portion whose lowermost edges are substantially complementary in shape with and joined to the upper curved edges of said rear skirt panel, and said bodice panel having oppositely extending flaps complementary in shape to the cut-out portions of said front panel, said flaps extending around the sides and toward the front to fit into said cut-out portions and being joined to the latter along the upper and lower curved edges thereof.

2. The womens garment of claim 1 wherein said bodice panel is of expansible material having a major stretch axis that is disposed in use to lie substantially parallel with lines of latitude of the wearers body.

3. The womens garment of claim 2 wherein said expansible material is spandex fabric.

4. The womens garment of claim 3 wherein said spandex fabric consists of spandex fibers and nylon fibers and a stretch of approximately to 5. The womens garment of claim 4 wherein said spandex fibers consist of a long-chain synthetic polymer comprised of at least 85% of a segmented polyurethane.

-6. The womens garment of claim 4 wherein spandex fibers and nylon fibers are present in the approximately overall percentages of 12% spandex fibers and 88% nylon fibers and wherein the spandex fibers have a higher denier value than the nylon fibers.

7. The womens garment of claim 6 wherein the spandex fibers have a denier of and the nylon fibers have a denier of 30.

8. A womens garment of a plurality of panels combined together to form a garment and comprising a front panel of fabric including a skirt portion, a midrilf portion and an upper bust portion, the midriff portion having cutout portions at opposite sides thereof, the upper bust portion having breast cups including triangular tucks in the lower portion thereof, a rear panel of fabric corresponding in shape substantially to the skirt portion of said front panel, and a unitary bodice panel of expansible fabric having a rear portion and side flaps fitting substantially into the cut-out portions of said midriff portion and secured thereto along upper and lower edges of said cut-out portions, said bodice panel having its major stretch axes which when the garment is worn extends substantially parallelly with the lines of latitude of the wearers body.

9. The womens garment of claim 8 wherein said bodice panel is of spandex fabric.

10. The womens garment of claim 8 wherein said front and rear panels are of like fabric that are bias cut with 5 6 their bias axes at right angles to each other while said 12. The womens garment of claim 8 wherein said bodice panel is of expansible material whose major stretch bodice panel is of spandex fabric which consists of spanaxis is disposed at angles of 45 with respect to said bias dex fibers and nylon fibers and has a major stretch of axes of said front and rear panels. approximately 100 to 110%.

11. The womens garment of claim 8 wherein said 5 front, rear and bodice panels are joined at seams defined References Cited by their respective edges and wherein the upper seams UNITED STATES PATENTS that join the side flaps t0 the cut-out POItlOIlS Of the fl'Ol'lt 2 253 902 1941 Gordon .2 454 panel when the garment is worn lie approximately at the 3:093:138 6/1963 Herman 1Z8 454 level of the bases of the wearers breasts to provide up- 10 lifting support therefor. ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner. 

1. A WOMEN''S GARMENT OF THREE FABRIC PANELS COMBINED TOGETHER TO FORM THE GARMENT COMPRISING A FRONT PANEL HAVING A SKIRT PORTION, A MIDRIFF PORTION AND AN UPPER BUST PORTION, THE MIDRIFF PORTION HAVING CUT-OUT PORTIONS WITH CURVED LOWER EDGES EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM OPPOSITE SIDE EDGES, AND THE UPPER BUST PORTION HAVING TUCKS WHOSE EDGES ARE JOINED TO DEFINE UPPER CURVED EDGES FOR SAID CUTOUT PORTIONS AND BREAST CUPS IN SAID UPPER BUST PORTION, A REAR PANEL OF FABRIC CORRESPONDING SUBSTANTIALLY IN SHAPE TO THE SKIRT PORTION OF SAID FRONT PANEL AND JOINED ALONG ITS SIDE EDGES TO CORRESPONSING SIDE EDGES OF THE SKIRT PORTION AND HAVING UPPER CURVED EDGES, AND A UNITARY BODICE PANEL OF EXPANSIBLE FABRIC HAVING A REAR PORTION WHOSE LOWERMOST EDGES ARE SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLEMENTARY IN SHAPE WITH JOINED TO THE UPPER CURVED EDGES OF SAID REAR SKIRT PANEL, AND SAID BODICE PANEL HAVING OPPOSITELY EXTENDING FLAPS COMPLEMENTARY IN SHAPE TO THE CUT-OUT-PORTIONS OF SAID FRONT PANEL, SAID FLAPS EXTENDING AROUND THE SIDES AND TOWARD THE FRONT TO FIT INTO SAID CUT-OUT PORTIONS AND BEING JOINED TO THE LATTER ALONG THE UPPER AND LOWER CURVED EDGES THEREOF. 